Underbelly has not ‘gone on the offensive’ over future of Edinburgh’s ice rink

It is a matter of deep regret to us that the issues regarding the use of St Andrew Square for the ice rink at Edinburgh’s Christmas have to be carried out in the public domain.

However, since the matter has been given to the press, we feel we have no choice but to seek to make our position clear and address what we believe is a huge blow to the city’s Christmas celebrations.

Edinburgh led the way with its ice rink, which has become a modern Edinburgh tradition since it first appeared in 1998 and has since been enjoyed by generations of Edinburgh residents and visitors. The loss of St Andrew Square for the ice rink has already attracted significant public regret.

In the past week, more than 16,000 people have actively engaged with our Edinburgh’s Christmas Facebook page on the issue, commenting on and sharing the news. We firmly believe we all have a responsibility to those disappointed residents and visitors to try to resolve the issues if we can.

There is no alternative location for the ice rink, which was custom made for St Andrew Square. We have seen the number of people enjoying skating in the city centre grow by more than 150 per cent since we took over Edinburgh’s Christmas – more than 80,000 last year.

More than that, it is obvious that the ice rink has enabled hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors to create memories that they will enjoy for their lifetimes.

St Andrew Square is an important and treasured private space. Treasured by the proprietors who generously opened it up to public use and treasured by the Edinburgh public. It needs to be cared for and we have spent huge amounts of time and effort making sure that the gardens are fully restored after Christmas activities. We have also been considering and planning how to make the restoration better and quicker in the coming years.

However, the sad fact that the issue was thrust into the public domain – not by us – may have given the proprietors, and others, the impression that we have “gone on the offensive” to retain the ice rink. That is simply not true. The proprietors of St Andrew Square have done an amazing job in opening up and looking after this world-class garden. All we have ever sought to do is to help people enjoy it.

It is our hope that everyone can take some time to consider the issues more fully and reflect on what can be achieved in Edinburgh for this year’s Christmas and for the future. In an age where shops face greater pressures than ever before because of the growth of online retail (90 per cent of us now use Amazon), it surely cannot be in anyone’s interest to reduce footfall and activity in the city centre.

Given the possible impact on the city centre, we hope we can get stakeholders around the table to consider the issues and see if solutions can be found.

Meantime, everyone should be clear that we have not sought to take this issue into the public domain, and we regret that we have had to go public to make that clear.

ED BARTLAM AND CHARLIE WOOD

Underbelly